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The investigation casts a shadow on Mr. Neymar’s transfer from
FC Barcelona at a record-breaking cost of $260 million as a demonstration of
Qatar’s ability to resist the two-month old UAE-Saudi-led diplomatic and
economic boycott of the Gulf state; move ahead with its infrastructure plans,
including World Cup-related projects; and continue to heavily invest in a
multi-pronged soft power ploy of which sports is a key pillar.

The investigation links former French president Nicolas
Sarkozy to millions of euros involved in business deals that were allegedly
part of a
three-way deal to ensure French support for Qatar’s World Cup bid as well
as the vote of one-time French star Michel Platini, who headed European soccer
body UEFA and was a member of FIFA’s executive committee before being banned from
involvement in soccer on corruption charges.

Qatar’s successful World Cup bid has been mired in
controversy from day one. Allegations of wrongdoing in the bid, enhanced by
FIFA’s multiple corruption scandals that have rocked the world body for the
past seven years, and criticism of the Gulf state’s controversial labour regime
that have been revived by the Gulf crisis, meshed with Eurocentric assertions. Eurocentric
critics charged that Qatar did not deserve to host the World Cup because it was
too small, boasted temperatures not conducive to performance, and had no soccer
legacy.

The criticism of Qatar, although never convincingly
countered by the Gulf state, had largely faded into the background until June
when a UAE-Saudi-led diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar raised questions
of Qatar’s ability to move ahead with preparations for the tournament. The
questions were fuelled by feeble
attempts by Qatar’s detractors to revive the criticism and suggest that it
should be deprived of its hosting rights.

Qatar, while denying any wrongdoing in its bid, has taken several
steps to counter criticism of its controversial kafala or labour sponsorship
regime, including becoming the only Gulf state to engage with its critics, and
legal reforms that were welcomed by human rights groups and trade unions, but
deemed not far-reaching enough.

Qatar faces a crucial hearing in November by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) that will serve as barometer of the
Gulf state’s response to the criticism of the living and working conditions of
migrant workers, who constitute the majority of its population. The ILO’s
conclusion is likely to take on added significance against the backdrop of the
Gulf crisis. Human rights groups have argued that the crisis offers Qatar an
opportunity to secure a moral high ground by abolishing rather than reforming
the kafala system.

Qatar, in a move designed to reassure expatriates and
project itself as being in the forefront of labour reform, said earlier this
month that it would offer
permanent residence to a select group of expatriates. The offer that does
not apply to the vast majority of migrant workers is unlikely to deflect the
criticism.

Alongside the looming revival of attention on labour, the
French investigation revives the focus on the integrity of the Qatari World Cup
bid that already is the subject of a Swiss enquiry and looms large on the
background of the indictment on corruption charges in the United States of
numerous FIFA officials.

France’s interference in the FIFA vote on the Qatari World
Cup bid was documented in a lengthy expose in French soccer magazine France
Football. The magazine detailed a
meeting engineered by then president Sarkozy in 2010 between Mr. Platini, then
Qatari crown prince and current emir Sheikh Tamim bin Haman Al-Thani, and a
representative of PSG. The three-way deal cut at that meeting allegedly
involved Mr. Platini agreeing to vote for the Qatari bid in exchange for Qatar
acquiring the French club, creating a French sports television channel, and
investing in France.

Britain’s The
Daily Telegraph reported that French investigators were examining whether
Mr. Sarkozy may have received funds from deals linked to the 2010 meeting,
including the sale to Qatar of a five percent stake in French water management
company Veolia as well as the purchase in 2010 of PSG by Oryx Qatar Sports Investments,
believed to be a Qatari government investment vehicle.

The British paper, quoting French sources, reported that €182
million “may have been siphoned off the side lines” of the deals and also used
for payments to World Cup officials. A spokeswoman for the National
Financial Prosecutor’s Office in Paris said they were “carrying out two
separate preliminary inquiries” into Veolia and the World Cup bid. She said
there was no established link between the two inquiries and Mr. Sarkozy was not
“formally and personally targeted at this stage.”

The investigation coupled with the revival of the labour
issue and the looming ILO hearing moves Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup
into the firing line in the Gulf crisis. Qatar was so far able to deflect
concern that the crisis would affect its ability to host the tournament because
it would take place 5.5 years from now by which time the crisis would have long
been resolved, and that it was able to move ahead with preparations despite a
rise in the cost of construction materials because of the UAE-Saudi-led
boycott.

The French investigation and the labour issue, however,
opens opportunity for a new line of attack. Perhaps, a silver lining for Qatar
in the looming battle over its World Cup hosting rights is the fact that this
line of attack, like much else in the Gulf crisis, would have a
pot-blames-the-kettle character. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf states
have labour regimes like that of Qatar.

Much of the sabre-rattling in the Gulf crisis focuses on
influencing policymakers and international public opinion with efforts to
resolve the crisis stalemated and the international community unwilling to
support the anti-Qatar alliance’s demands that target the Gulf state’s sovereignty
and ability to chart its own independent course. The emergence of the World Cup
as a new battleground offers Qatar an opportunity to grab the bull by the
horns. It’s an opportunity Qatar has so far availed itself only half-heartedly.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile